1971-72: The Netherlands:Recruited by Shell as an International Oil & Gas Exploration Geologist. Five months training - well & refinery sites, fieldwork, laboratory work, courses on a range of business and exploration & production subjects.

1972-76: UK London, Shell Centre:Shell Expro's first dedicated wellsite geologist. This took me to offshore Shetlands and the second exploration well on the Brent oil & gas field (I cut the first cores), the discovery well of Cormorant oilfield and several others in the Northern & Central North Sea. Fieldwork in Dorset, NE Scotland and Orkneys. Published a paper on my thesis in Journal of the Geol Soc Lond.

1976-80: Brunei Borneo:Exploration Geologist Shell Brunei which included onshore fieldwork, drilling and offshore interpretation, plus field trips in Sabah & Sarawak, climbing Mt Kinabalu, visiting Niah Caves and location work with David Bellamy making the TV series Botanic Man. Published another paper on my thesis. Family holidays included New Zealand, Malaysia & USA.

1980-85: Perth Western Australia: Chief Geologist Shell Australia. This included drilling Pre-Cambrian in the middle of nowhere, as well as Bass Strait discoveries and great trips (e.g. Shark Bay, Officer Basin, Surat Basin, Gippsland Basin and every state capital except Darwin). Published a paper on the Officer Basin, WA.

1985-90: The Netherlands The Hague: Shell International Area Geologist for Mediterranean, S Asia, M East & Africa, which involved visits to France, Italy, Morocco, Libya, Tunisia, Egypt, Turkey, Syria, Greece, Abu Dhabi, Oman, Pakistan, China, Nigeria & Gabon - as well as field work in the UAE, France, Spain, Eire and USA. Loads of internal reports and presentations.